Pavlina Louženská — how a conference can change your life
Startup Weekend presents a blog post focused on the main topics from our interview with Pavlina Louženská. In this article we will present you the summary and comments from our interview with Pavlina Louženská regarding our recent event focused on Communication. If you're more of a visual person, check out the original interview:
Her story
Pavlina Louženská is young; she is ambitious, and she was one of our amazing mentors’ part of Startup Weekend 2019. She worked for Zoot and is the Head of Product for Rekola–bicycle-sharing service. She is the Founder and CEO of Holky z Marketingu which currently units more than 18,000 women in Czech Republic.
Becoming inspired to be part of the startup community
Pavlina was brought to the startup community by her brother. She visited with him an IT conference where she felt in love with the atmosphere. She really wanted to contribute, and this is how she start working for tech companies and startups.
It is interesting how a small step can open many doors. Facilitating exciting encounters and education is exactly the thing we're most excited about here at Startup Weekend Prague!
Communication is a key thing in our day to day lives. How can companies and startups address it?
According to Pavlina: companies must focus on empathy. Her position is that even human to computer communication is actually human-to-human because humans code computers.
For every startup this is an important message. No matter if you are building an automated business or not, focus on the interactions with the customers. Be kind and empathetic. Make sure that they will get what you are solving and if they don’t learn from it and make it better.
How the right communication with a team or a customer could save your project from a disaster
Pavlina shared that for the projects she worked on the feedback is crucial and this is reflected in her own experience with Holky z Marketingu. It started as a platform for girls like her from the big city, actively using computers, until one point where a girl posted in the platform that her mom hated her job and if someone could do something about it. This lead not only to finding a job for her mom but also boosting the focus to other groups and not only the closed community. Now the platform provides courses for free and a scholarship for single moms and elderly women.
What we can learn from this is that we as Entrepreneurs must listen to our customers and what they need. Communication is the key. Not only with the customer but also with the team. That is one of the key ingredients of Startup Weekend, because from the very beginning the participants form teams to start working on their ideas.
Three challenges in Communication for startups
According to Pavlina: The first challenge is lack of segmentation. When one message is posted on every channel possible. The thing “We are for everyone never works”
The second one is to understand different steps of conversion in order to create interaction.
And the last one is the lack of follow-up.
Amazing learning points. When you take part in Startup Weekend, it’s important to know who your segment is and how you will promote your product. It’s all about doing the research.
Take away
Pavlina’s interview was inspiring in a couple of ways. She is an expert in communication and marketing and shared with us her story related to communication.
The biggest take away is no matter which business you are, be empathic to your customers. Even if you are in Machine to Human, the humans code the machines and you should be aware what the other side would expect from your solution.
Another topic to consider is that going to events focused on Startups can inspire you to take the path of an entrepreneur.
Pavlina did that extremely well in her professional life and has showcased these points with her project Holky z Marketingu.
If this story inspired you to try out these lessons in practice, the best next step is to get involved in events that facilitate such education. Startup Weekend Prague will be returning in March 2020, and we'd love for you to join us! You can find more information by clicking the link below:
